China says paying attention to India's concerns on dams

, Oct 22:

today said it is paying attention to India’'s concerns on its plans to build more dams on the Brahmaputra river, an issue expected to figure prominently in visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’'s talks with leaders here.

China pays attention to India’'s concerns over trans-border rivers, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in response to a question on India's concerns over the dams. Six meetings of experts have been held since 2007 to discuss the sharing of data on rivers between the two countries, she said.

China has made great efforts in providing flood season hydro data to India and to assist the Indian side in managing emergencies, she said. Beijing also played a very important role in disaster and flood prevention and disaster relief, and the issue was discussed during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India in May, Hua said.

Asked about India’'s concerns over Chinese projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Hua reiterated Beijing's position that the Kashmir issue is a matter left over from history between India and Pakistan. "We hope the two sides can properly handle this issue through friendly consultation," she said.

Hua reiterated the answer when she was asked about Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's recent efforts to seek US support for resolving the Kashmir issue. Referring to Singh's visit, Hua said this this will be the first time after 1954 that the Indian and Chinese Prime Ministers visited each other's countries in the same year.

"We hope through this visit we can exchange views with the Indian side on deepening our strategic cooperative partnership so as to build up strategic mutual trust and enhance consultations on major international and regional issues," she said. "By doing so, we can maintain sound and long-term development of bilateral relations."

PTI